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One of the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is that the US Copyright Office hold hearings every three years to ensure that the DMCA is operating properly. For one month prior to those hearings any interested party can submit comments calling for exceptions or revisions. The latest comment period began on January 4, 2006 and has resulted in some fascinating comments.

If the rumors are true, Amazon, the giant Internet retailer of books, recordings, videos, and just about everything else, is about to embark upon a music subscription service—complete with Amazon-branded music players at a deep discount, or perhaps even for free.

Irony reigns supreme on this week's installment of XM Daze.

A University of Michigan research team under Kensall D. Wise has developed a ribbon-like cochlear implant that substantially increases the amount of auditory stimuli over the current models. Approximately 100,000 patients have had cochlear implants to ameliorate profound deafness; however, Wise described these implants as limited in frequency sensitivity, as well as bulky and difficult for surgeons to insert.

It's the ultimate talent show each year, and I don't think you'll find a bigger collection of musical firepower under one roof (Live 8 was outdoors after all): Paul McCartney, U2, Madonna, Gorillaz, Mariah Carey, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Sly Stone, Herbie Hancock, and on and on.

The first thing you notice is the rather large black foam rubber foot sitting (standing?) in the room. And then the swanky furniture and trendy layout.

The British Library vs DRM: The BBChttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4675280.stm">BBC; reported February 3 that Dr Clive Field, the British Library's director of scholarships and collections, called the increasing restrictions of fair use by digital rights management (DRM) cause for concern.